Facebook becomes first social network to join GSMA

Facebook announced it has become a member of the GSMA, making it the first social networking firm to join the mobile industry association.

Dan Rose, VP of partnerships for Facebook, said the company already works closely with many of the GSMA’s operator members.

“Joining the GSMA reflects our focus on mobile and our continued desire to work closely and collaboratively with partners in the industry, and we look forward to playing an active role as an associate member,” he added.

Associate members of the GSMA include vendor names such as Alcatel-Lucent, Ericsson, Qualcomm and Samsung (in contrast to ‘full’ operator members). Facebook’s rivals such as Google and Amazon have not yet joined as associate members.

The GSMA said in a statement that it is “always in dialogue and maintains strong relationships with all companies in the mobile communications ecosystem”.

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Tim Ferguson

Tim joined Mobile World Live in August 2011 and works across all channels, with a particular focus on apps. He came to the GSMA with five years of tech journalism experience, having started his career as a reporter... More